Newburgh's corporation counsel to quit

Doyle Murphy

Tuesday

Nov 30, 2010 at 12:03 PMNov 30, 2010 at 12:09 PM

CITY OF NEWBURGH – The city's top lawyer will leave her job after less than a year in Newburgh.

Corporation Counsel Bernis Nelson announced her resignation in a brief note filed with the City Clerk's office. She did not give a reason and didn't immediately respond to a Times Herald-Record request for comment.

Mayor Nicholas Valentine said Nelson wrote in the note it had been a pleasure working for the city and her last day would be in two weeks. Valentine said he had no prior warning and didn't know what prompted the resignation.

Nelson started in Newburgh on Feb. 1, replacing Geoffrey Chanin who resigned in October 2009.

Nelson was among a new group of department heads hired by acting City Manager Richard Herbek in the past year to fill a string of vacancies. She had previously worked for a private firm in Tarrytown. Prior to that, she served as the as corporation counsel for New Rochelle for 12 years.

City officials and department heads learned about the resignation on Tuesday morning. It wasn't clear how Herbek fill the position after Nelson leaves. Herbek was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.